Bangladesh risks creating a “new crisis” for Rohingya refugees if it goes ahead next month with plans to relocate 23,000 refugees to an uninhabited island prone to cyclones, a United Nations human rights envoy has warned.

Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar who visited Bhasan Char recently, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday that she was unsure if the Bay of Bengal island was “truly habitable”.

She also warned “ill-planned” relocations without the consent of refugees “have the potential to create a new crisis”.

Rohingya advocates say the refugees would effectively be trapped on Bhasan Char, a muddy, low-lying island that floods frequently during monsoon season and offers few livelihood opportunities.

More than 730,000 Rohingya are confined to overcrowded camps in Bangladesh after fleeing a campaign of arson, murder and rape waged in Myanmar by the country’s military since late 2017.

Despite the objections, the Bangladeshi government hopes to eventually move 100,000 Rohingya to the island, arguing this would relieve pressure on the camps.

‘Everyone will refuse’Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist, said he believed the only way officials could get people to move to the island was by force.

“Everyone in the camps will refuse for sure,” he told Al Jazeera. “No one wants to be relocated to Bhasan Char.”Lee’s remarks came as she delivered the findings of a report based on visits she made to Thailand and Bangladesh in January.

The Myanmar government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, denied her access to the country during her trip and did not respond to her written questions about the human rights situation in Myanmar.

In a December letter, the government told Lee her visits were “counterproductive”, claiming her previous reports lacked “objectivity and impartiality”.

Lee said in the recently released report that the UN “must be allowed to conduct a full technical and humanitarian assessment” of Bhasan Char and that Rohingya should be given “go and see” visits to determine if they wished to move there.

Bangladesh has enlisted British and Chinese engineers to help prepare the island for the planned arrivals. The involvement of British firm HR Wallingford in the project has sparked criticism from UK-based campaigners.

The advocacy group Burma Campaign UK in December named the firm on a “dirty list” of companies that it said were involved in projects related to human rights violations.

The firm did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Monday.

A spokesperson has previously told The Guardian the company has no business inside Myanmar and has been engaged in Bangladesh to design flood defences on Bhasan Char to internationally recognised standards.

Thousands flee RakhineLee also told the Human Rights Council on Monday that up to 10,000 civilians have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since November last year due to violence and a lack of humanitarian aid.

While global attention has focussed on the plight of Rohingya inside Myanmar, many ethnically Rakhine people have been affected by clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, a Rakhine rebel group.

In her report, Lee said the clashes had led to the deaths of “several civilians … including of children”.

She also expressed “serious concern” at the Rakhine state government’s decision to instruct aid agencies to suspend their activities in several areas of the state in January.

The move was a “violation of Myanmar’s international humanitarian obligation” to allow access for aid agencies, she said.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2019/03/12/un-warns-bangladesh-of-new-crisis-over-rohingya-relocation-plan/feed/0Rohingya long for an end to their sufferinghttp://ciiradio.com/2019/01/17/rohingya-long-for-an-end-to-their-suffering/
http://ciiradio.com/2019/01/17/rohingya-long-for-an-end-to-their-suffering/#respondThu, 17 Jan 2019 12:54:38 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1666117 January 2019| 11 Jumadul Ulaa 1440| Anadolu agency Rohingya Muslims, forced to emigrate from their homeland to escape oppression and horrific massacres, cannot escape their painful memories. Nearly 1.5 million Rohingya Muslims who fled from ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh are struggling to survive in camps in Cox’s Bazar […]

Rohingya Muslims, forced to emigrate from their homeland to escape oppression and horrific massacres, cannot escape their painful memories.

Nearly 1.5 million Rohingya Muslims who fled from ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh are struggling to survive in camps in Cox’s Bazar district.

Many Rohingya Muslims, some of whom lost family members, are dreaming of a peaceful life despite their pain.

But they do not want to return to their country unless they are given assurances.One of the refugees, Zafer Islam, whose mother and father were killed by a firing squad, has been living at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar since 2017.

“The Myanmar military killed my mother and father as they were leaving their house. We had to run during the attack. I came here with my wife and three children. It is impossible to forget those days, and I am still carrying the scars,” Islam said.

Ruhlamin and Anuar Begom, a couple, is also staying in the camp with their two children.

They walked with their children for a week and then swam across the Naf River to reach the camp in Bangladesh, said Anuar Begom, adding they are staying in a house made of bamboo with the support of Turkey.

“Turkey is a country that put up a fight for us and does not forget us here. We understand this from Turkish people’s work here,” Begom added.

“The first time we came here, we did not have any place to stay, and later people from Turkey came here to build houses for us.”

Another refugee, Amir Husein, 55, who reached the camp after a one-week walk with his six children, said: “We came here by walking with a group of 500-600 Rohingya. We’re staying at a home built by Turkey.”

“I pray for Turkey,” he added.

Muhammad Nur, 64, who arrived at the camp with his four daughters and wife after they walked for 12 days, said he lost many members of his family on the migration route to Bangladesh.

The largest amount of help in the camp was given by Turkey. Many facilities were also built, including homes, hospitals, mosques and schools, and many wells were drilled in each neighborhood through contributions from philanthropists.

Life in the campsLife goes on in the camps despite many difficulties. Some adults are earning 50-100 Bangladesh taka ($0.60-$1.19) daily by working at jobs near the camps. Some refugees are also trading in the camps by selling food products they bring from the city center.

Children, who are studying in schools built by Turkey, on the one hand learn how to read and write and receive religious education while on the other hand spend time together by playing football.

Youngsters in the camp occasionally organize football competitions.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August last year.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled “Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.”

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

The UN has also documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces.

In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

US Vice President Mike Pence told Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday the violence and persecution by her country’s military and vigilantes that sent more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh was inexcusable.

Pence told Suu Kyi in a brief meeting with the media before private talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore the United States was anxious to hear of progress in holding people accountable for the Rohingya crisis.

“The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse,” he told Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi responded that people have different views.

Pence’s comments follow criticism from Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who said on Tuesday the Nobel laureate was trying to “defend the indefensible” in backing Myanmar’s military over the brutal crackdown.

‘Indifference’Mahathir is known for his forthright views, but such public rebukes are rare among ASEAN leaders.

Suu Kyi became a democracy icon during Myanmar’s long years of military dictatorship when she spent some 15 years under house arrest.

But the treatment of the Rohingya and the response of Suu Kyi’s government have fuelled widespread criticism.

Human rights group Amnesty International this week stripped her of its highest honour over what it said was her “indifference” to the plight of the Rohingya.

Pence also said Washington wanted to see a free and democratic press in Myanmar, and the jailing of two journalists last year was “deeply troubling” for millions of Americans.

He did not mention by name Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists who were arrested in Yangon in December 2017 as they worked on a story about the Rohingya crackdown.

They were found guilty in September of breaching the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.Bangladesh and Myanmar plan to start repatriating some Rohingya this week.

The UN has said the move would put their lives at risk and should be stopped amid ongoing attacks against the Rohingya who remain in the predominantly Buddhist country.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/11/14/mike-pence-tells-suu-kyi-rohingya-violence-inexcusable/feed/0UN official urges Bangladesh to halt Rohingya returnshttp://ciiradio.com/2018/11/07/un-official-urges-bangladesh-to-halt-rohingya-returns/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/11/07/un-official-urges-bangladesh-to-halt-rohingya-returns/#respondWed, 07 Nov 2018 09:25:07 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1586207 November 2018| 28 Safar 1440| Anadolu Agency A UN human rights official has implored Bangladesh to shelve its plans to start the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar this month, fearing they may face violence or abuse. “I have not seen any evidence of the Government of Myanmar taking concrete and visible measures to […]

A UN human rights official has implored Bangladesh to shelve its plans to start the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar this month, fearing they may face violence or abuse.

“I have not seen any evidence of the Government of Myanmar taking concrete and visible measures to create an environment where the Rohingya can return to their place of origin and live there safely with their fundamental rights guaranteed,” Yanghee Lee, the special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement on the UN website on Tuesday.

Lee said she fears the Rohingya may face suffering, violence, or abuse as Myanmar has failed to take any tangible measures for the Rohingya’s return to the border state of Rakhine in November.

“Not only did the Rohingya face horrific violence at the hands of security forces in 2016 and 2017 with no accountability, they have been subjected to decades-long systematic discrimination and persecution in Myanmar,” Lee said, urging both Bangladesh and Myanmar to call off the repatriation.

“I urge the Governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to halt these rushed plans for repatriation, to ensure the protection of the Rohingya refugees and to adhere to their international human rights and refugee law obligations to ensure any returns are safe, sustainable, voluntary and dignified,” she added.

Persecution of RohingyaThe Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled “Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.”

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into neighboring Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/11/07/un-official-urges-bangladesh-to-halt-rohingya-returns/feed/0UN investigator says Myanmar genocide against Rohingya ‘ongoing’http://ciiradio.com/2018/10/25/un-investigator-says-myanmar-genocide-against-rohingya-ongoing/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/10/25/un-investigator-says-myanmar-genocide-against-rohingya-ongoing/#respondThu, 25 Oct 2018 10:11:57 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1554925 October 2018|15 Safar 1440|Al Jazeera Genocide continues to take place against Muslim-majority Rohingya in Myanmar and the government is increasingly demonstrating it has no interest in establishing a fully functioning democracy, a UN investigator said. Marzuki Darusman, chair of the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar, said the estimated 250,000 to 400,000 Rohingya who remained […]

Genocide continues to take place against Muslim-majority Rohingya in Myanmar and the government is increasingly demonstrating it has no interest in establishing a fully functioning democracy, a UN investigator said.

Marzuki Darusman, chair of the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar, said the estimated 250,000 to 400,000 Rohingya who remained in the Buddhist-majority country following last year’s brutal crackdown “continue to suffer the most severe” restrictions and repression.

“Atrocities continue to take place today,” Darusman told reporters as he prepared to brief the UN Security Council on the situation on Wednesday. “It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place.”

There is increasing global pressure on Myanmar to act following a military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine that drove some 700,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, amid accusations of mass rape, murder and torture.

Myanmar’s government has rejected the 440-page UN report on the crackdown, which concluded top military leaders should be prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide for their role in the crackdown.

The UN investigation was “flawed, biased and politically motivated”, Myanmar’s council representative said.

Darusman’s briefing to the Security Council drew objections from six of its 15 members including China, which is Myanmar’s neighbour and ally, and Russia.

‘Human rights catastrophe’
Darusman told the council the mission’s report on the crackdown showed a “human rights catastrophe” that would affect the Rohingya for “generations to come, if not forever”. He urged the council to hold Myanmar accountable.

“National sovereignty is not a licence to commit crimes against humanity or genocide,” said Darusman. “The Rohingya and all of Myanmar’s people, in fact the entire world, is looking at you to take action.”

Myanmar has denied committing atrocities against the Rohingya, saying its military carried out justifiable military action against rebels who had attacked security posts in the region.

The country’s UN ambassador said Myanmar would never accept being referred to the International Criminal Court.
Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays said a referral was unlikely, with China and Russia able to use their veto to protect Myanmar from any action.

“A Security Council veto could and almost certainly would be used,” Bays said. “But an investigation into the crime of forced expulsion is a possibility because the country many people fled to, Bangladesh, has signed up to the court’s jurisdiction.”

Britain coordinates council action on Myanmar and the country’s ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, said she would push for “accountability that genuinely ends the Burmese military’s impunity”.

‘Apartheid situation’
Yanghee Lee, the UN special investigator on human rights in Myanmar, told reporters leader Aung San Suu Kyi was “in denial” about the crackdown, and her government did not appear to be all that different from the military dictatorship of the past.

“The government is increasingly demonstrating that it has no interest and capacity in establishing a fully functioning democracy where all its people equally enjoy all their rights and freedoms,” Lee said.

“It is not upholding justice and rule of law”, which Aung San Suu Kyi “repeatedly says is the standard to which all in Myanmar are held”, she added.

The conditions were not right for any Rohingya to return to Myanmar, she said.

Lee said while there had been progress in terms of economic development and infrastructure, there had been “no progress” in terms of “democratic space” or land rights.

“Repatriation is not possible now,” she stressed. “I will not encourage any repatriation. Right now, it’s like an apartheid situation where Rohingyas still living in Myanmar … have no freedom of movement.

“The camps, the shelters, the model villages that are being built, it’s more of a cementing of total segregation or separation from the Rakhine ethnic community.”

The top United Nations human rights body on Thursday decided to establish a new independent mechanism to collect and analyze evidence of genocide and human rights violations against Rakhine Muslims in Myanmar.

The UN Human Rights Council voted in its 39th session in Geneva “to establish an ongoing independent mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011”.

Thirty-five members, out of 47, voted in favor while China, the Philippines and Burundi voted against the resolution. Seven others abstained.

The motion had been prepared by the European Union (EU) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The quasi-judicial mechanism will be responsible for collecting evidence of atrocities and human rights violations against Rakhine Muslims and prepare indictment for a possible future criminal proceeding.

Persecuted Rohingya
Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

In a report, “Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience”, the OIDA increased the estimated number of murdered Rohingya to 23,962 (±881) from an earlier Doctors Without Borders figure of 9,400.

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, the OIDA report said, adding that 17,718 (±780) Rohingya women and girls were raped by the Myanmar army and police.

More than 115,000 Rohingya houses were burned and 113,000 others were vandalized, it added.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after state forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In its report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/09/28/independent-un-body-to-collect-data-on-myanmar-killings/feed/0ICC opens preliminary probe into Myanmar crimeshttp://ciiradio.com/2018/09/19/icc-opens-preliminary-probe-into-myanmar-crimes/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/09/19/icc-opens-preliminary-probe-into-myanmar-crimes/#respondWed, 19 Sep 2018 08:51:38 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1497219 September 2018|09 Muharram 1440|Anadolu Agency The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday launched a preliminary investigation into the crimes committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya people. In a written statement, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said: “I have decided to proceed to the next phase of the preliminary examination process and to carry out a […]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday launched a preliminary investigation into the crimes committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya people.

In a written statement, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said: “I have decided to proceed to the next phase of the preliminary examination process and to carry out a full-fledged preliminary examination of the situation at hand.”

Bensouda noted that her office has received a number of communications and reports alleging crimes since the end of 2017.

The preliminary examination will be made on the forced displacement of the Rohingya people, including the deprivation of their fundamental rights as well as killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, destruction and looting, the prosecutor added.

“A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute,” she said.

Her office will evaluate whether crimes such as the crimes of persecution and other inhumane acts may be applicable to the situation at hand.

She added: “While Myanmar is not a State Party to the ICC, Bangladesh is. The Court may therefore exercise jurisdiction over conduct to the extent it partly occurred on the territory of Bangladesh.”

Earlier this month, the court ruled that it has jurisdiction to investigate the crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Nearly 24,000 Rohingya killed
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, entitled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police, and over 115,000 Rohingya houses were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/09/19/icc-opens-preliminary-probe-into-myanmar-crimes/feed/0Judges rule ICC ‘has jurisdiction’ over Rohingya crimeshttp://ciiradio.com/2018/09/07/judges-rule-icc-has-jurisdiction-over-rohingya-crimes/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/09/07/judges-rule-icc-has-jurisdiction-over-rohingya-crimes/#respondFri, 07 Sep 2018 12:43:41 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1476307 September 2018|26 Dhul Hijjah 1439|Anadolu Agency The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday ruled that it has jurisdiction to investigate the crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. “The Court has jurisdiction over the crime against humanity of deportation allegedly committed against members of the Rohingya people,” the Hague-based court said in a […]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday ruled that it has jurisdiction to investigate the crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

“The Court has jurisdiction over the crime against humanity of deportation allegedly committed against members of the Rohingya people,” the Hague-based court said in a statement.

“The reason is that an element of this crime — the crossing of a border — took place on the territory of a State party [Bangladesh],” it added.

The statement said it “may also exercise its jurisdiction with regard to any other crime set out in article 5 of the [ICC Rome] Statute, such as the crimes against humanity of persecution and/or other inhumane acts.”

The court urged that the prosecutor must take the legally binding ruling into account “as she continues with her preliminary examination concerning the crimes allegedly committed against the Rohingya people.”

The court further said a preliminary examination must be concluded within a reasonable time.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children and women, have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after Myanmar forces began a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

At least 9,400 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar’s Rakhine State from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, 2017, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published last December, the global humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/09/07/judges-rule-icc-has-jurisdiction-over-rohingya-crimes/feed/0Myanmar rejects UN probe findings of Rohingya ‘genocide’http://ciiradio.com/2018/08/29/myanmar-rejects-un-probe-findings-of-rohingya-genocide/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/08/29/myanmar-rejects-un-probe-findings-of-rohingya-genocide/#respondWed, 29 Aug 2018 10:51:03 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1460829 August 2018|17 Dhul Hijjah 1439|Arab news Myanmar rejected Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis. Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year’s military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of […]

Myanmar rejected Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis.

Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year’s military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.

On Monday, a UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity “perpetrated on a massive scale” toward the Rohingya, including acts of rape and sexual violence, mass killings, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

In a session of the UN Security Council late Tuesday several countries — including the US — called for Myanmar’s military leaders to be held accountable for its alleged crimes.

But Myanmar on Wednesday rejected the remit of the UN mission in a typically defiant defense of its response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on its civilian and military leadership.

“We didn’t allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that’s why we don’t agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council,” said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

He pointed to the formation of Myanmar’s own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to “false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities.”

The country has “zero tolerance for human rights violations,” Zaw Htay said, but he added that “strong evidence” including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken.

The government would take “legal action against any violation of human rights,” he said.

Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for pulling down the pages of Myanmar’s army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying that the move could hamper the government’s efforts with “national reconciliation.”

The social media giant has admitted it was too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform — wildly popular in Myanmar — become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.

Much of Myanmar’s Buddhist-majority public has vilified the Rohingya since the army’s crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been stripped of citizenship and denied free movement, access to health care and education within the country.

Myanmar’s leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state.

But the drumbeat of calls for accountability is getting louder, with the International Criminal Court also soon due to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the crisis because it spilled across the border into Bangladesh.

]]>http://ciiradio.com/2018/08/29/myanmar-rejects-un-probe-findings-of-rohingya-genocide/feed/0UN report reveals Myanmar generals had ‘genocidal intent’ against Rohingyahttp://ciiradio.com/2018/08/27/un-report-reveals-myanmar-generals-had-genocidal-intent-against-rohingya/
http://ciiradio.com/2018/08/27/un-report-reveals-myanmar-generals-had-genocidal-intent-against-rohingya/#respondMon, 27 Aug 2018 11:31:23 +0000http://ciiradio.com/?p=1455327 August 2018|15 Dhul hijjah 1439|Al Arabiya Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for orchestrating the gravest crimes under law, U.N. investigators said on Monday. The civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has allowed hate […]

Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for orchestrating the gravest crimes under law, U.N. investigators said on Monday.

The civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has allowed hate speech to thrive, destroyed documents and failed to protect minorities from crimes against humanity and war crimes by the army in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states, they said in a report.

In doing so, it “contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes”, the report said.

A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base.

Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

The U.N. report said the military action, which included the scorching of villages, was “grossly disproportionate to actual security threats”.

The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare under international law, but has been used in countries including Bosnia and Sudan and in the Islamic State campaign against the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria.

“The crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other contexts,” said the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.

In the final 20-page report, it said: “There is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw (army) chain of command, so that a competent court can determine their liability for genocide in relation to the situation in Rakhine state.”

The Myanmar government, which was sent an advance copy of the U.N. report in line with standard practice, has not commented.

Contacted by phone, Myanmar military spokesman Major General Tun Tun Nyi said he could not immediately comment.

The U.N. panel, led by former Indonesian attorney-general Marzuki Darusman, named the Myanmar army’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and five other generals who should face justice.

They included Brigadier-General Aung Aung, commander of the 33rd Light Infantry Division, which oversaw operations in the coastal village of Inn Din where 10 Rohingya captive boys and men were killed.
Reuters was unable to contact Min Aung Hlaing or Aung Aung on Monday.

The massacre was uncovered by two Reuters journalists – Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28 – who were arrested as a result last December and are being tried on charges of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act. The court had been due to deliver its verdict on Monday, but at a brief hearing earlier the proceedings were postponed until Sept. 3.

In April, seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor for participating in the massacre.

The report said Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, “has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet a responsibility to protect the civilian population”.

Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

The top U.N. human rights official Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has called the crackdown against the Rohingya a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Suu Kyi’s government has rejected most allegations of atrocities made against the security forces by refugees. It has built transit centers to receive Rohingya returnees to western Rakhine state, but U.N. aid agencies say that it is not yet safe for them to return.

Call for individual sanctions
The U.N. Security Council should ensure all perpetrators are held to account, preferably by referring Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or by creating an ad hoc tribunal, the investigators said.

The Security Council should “adopt targeted individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against those who appear most responsible for serious crimes under international law” and impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, they said.

The four other generals the U.N. panel said should be prosecuted were named as the army deputy commander-in-chief, Vice Senior-General Soe Win; the commander of the Bureau of Special Operations-3, Lieutenant-General Aung Kyaw Zaw; the commander of Western Regional Military Command, Major-General Maung Maung Soe; and the commander of 99th Light Infantry Division, Brigadier-General Than Oo.

Reuters was not able to contact those four generals on Monday.

The panel, set up last year, interviewed 875 victims and witnesses in Bangladesh and other countries, and analyzed documents, videos, photographs and satellite images.

Decades of state-sponsored stigmatisation against Rohingya had resulted in “institutionalised oppression from birth to death”, the report said.

The Rohingya, who regard themselves as native to Rakhine state, are widely considered as interlopers by Myanmar’s Buddhist majority and are denied citizenship.

“The Tatmadaw acts with complete impunity and has never been held accountable. Its standard response is to deny, dismiss and obstruct,” the U.N. report said.

The report also criticized Facebook’s response to allegations, including by members of the same U.N. panel in March,that the social media giant had been used to incite violence and hatred against the Rohingyas.

“Although improved in recent months, Facebook’s response has been slow and ineffective. The extent to which Facebook posts and messages have led to real-world discrimination and violence must be independently and thoroughly examined,” it said.

Facebook declined to comment in an emailed statement, saying it had not yet seen the report.

Facebook said in a statement issued 10 days ago following a Reuters investigative report into its failure to combat hate speech against the Rohingya and other Muslims that it had been “too slow” to address the problem in Myanmar and was acting to remedy the situation by hiring more Burmese speakers and investing in technology to identify problematic content.

International courts have a mixed record on prosecutions for genocide.

In 2008, a U.N. court sentenced former army colonel Theoneste Bagosora, accused of masterminding the slaughter of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994, to life in prison on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. His sentence was later cut to 35 years on appeal.

In 2016, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was convicted by U.N. judges of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. He is appealing against the conviction.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir in 2009 and 2010 over his alleged role in war crimes including genocide in Sudan’s breakaway Darfur province in 2003. He remains in office.